A gas turbine engine generally includes a fan and a core arranged in flow communication with one another. Additionally, the core of the gas turbine engine general includes, in serial flow order, a compressor section, a combustion section, a turbine section, and an exhaust section. In operation, air is provided from the fan to an inlet of the compressor section where one or more axial compressors progressively compress the air until it reaches the combustion section. Fuel is mixed with the compressed air and burned within the combustion section to provide combustion gases. The combustion gases are routed from the combustion section to the turbine section. The flow of combustion gasses through the turbine section drives the turbine section and is then routed through the exhaust section, e.g., to atmosphere.
Within the combustion section, a combustor typically includes a fuel-air injection assembly attached to a dome. The fuel-air injection assembly may include a heat shield to protect, e.g., various other components of the fuel-air injection assembly and/or the dome. The heat shield is traditionally required to occupy a large footprint within a combustion chamber of the combustor to effectively protect the various other components of the fuel-air injection assembly and/or the dome. However, the inventors of the present disclosure have found that such a configuration may result in a heavy combustor, and also may increase costs for forming the heat shields. Accordingly, a combustor addressing these concerns would be useful.